St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-04
1t Is Estimated That Its Mines Have
Produced SIS, 10000 During the
Past Nine Years,
And They Are Expected to Pay 10 Per
Cent. on s5,000,000 for the Next
Twenty Years.
The War Which This Company Had With
The De Smet to Control the City
Of DeadwO0d.

oSOh oo huo Ill years DIS lucy arc uOW
Stocks have been dead since the break
of last year, and ore shipping has got
black eye by the assessment of cents
share on Retriever, which was supposed
to be getting big returns from the
Omaha smelter. don't see much show
for a revival in investments this year,
unless there are some new big strikes or
the Galena smelterS are successful
Such pessimistic utteranceS are fire.
Quently heard. Moreover, they have
been heard any year since the mines of
the Black Hills began to be systemati-
cally worked, and | believe that they
will always be heard from this direction.
Why? q
THE REAL DIFFICULTY
sin the nature of the ores. 1t is for
nation of lOw-grade ore. Plenty of it;
mountains; easy to get and work, but
requiring extensive plants and SvS-
temahc management. With capital and
brains, there is no mining country that
offers Surer returns, if moderate. 1t
comes the nearest to reducing mining to
a steady, legitimate manufacturing bust
ness of anything. The trouble is that
every company in the Hills, with one or
possibly three exceptions, is trying to
qEate business capacity. 1t is case of
trying to run a ten-horse engine to its
full capacity with a One-horSe boiler,
and OF course there are more ShutdownS
than successes. Hence, this is emphat-
lcallN a country of great expectations,
great possibilities and great diSap-
pointments. This coming short of
calculating resources is partly
explained by the proverbial exaggera-
tien of value of ores and the more inn
peftaht fact that the formation here is
poekety and occasionally initiates and
misleads the miner with deceptive
hopes; he hasn't yet learned to average
the. country. But, allowing for all this,
it is somewhat surprising that these mis-
calculations should continue when men
have before them daily one great sue
ceSsfulNconcern, telling them in loud,
ceaselesS racket and i'll dividends
equally constant and more vOciferouS
how 10 work Black Hills mines. This
object lesson in mining seems to be so
little icenned that have taken the pains
to- collect its data of success to illustrate
what's of capitalization and manage
ment,are needed here.
TIE HoMESTAKE COMPANY,
as it is commonly termed and under
stood, consists OF six different corpora
OWNS and operates a railroad, has the
largest general stores in the Hills and
OWNS the public water works Lead City,
Central City and Deadwood. The Home
stake Mining company proper owns
about one hundred mining claims on
the belt "a thousand acres; its mills at
Lead City, at Terraville and Central
City drop $50 stamps increasingly. The
personnel of all these corporations is to
some extent identical; the manage
ment is all under one Superin-
tendent. Its name is many, its manage
mentone. An army of men does it's work,
below and above grOund-abOut 1,5OO
being, on its pay rolls, including miners,
laborers, woOd-chOppers, mechanics,
clerks. etc. The HOmeStake monthly
breathes the breath of life into Lead
City, Terraville and Central City, and is
thechief living of DeadwOOd. Indeed,
as it is almost the only paying mine in
the Hills, the HomeStake company
pretty nearly constitutes the mining in
dustry of the Northern hills orrevenue.
All this involves monthly disbursement
of 100000.
CHEAP FUEL, TIMBER AND WATER
furnish the key to successful mining on
the problem by building railroad
along the mountains twenty miles to the
pine forests of the hills, and construct
ing thirty miles of ditch and flume.
These dump their loads high above the
mills, to be shot down long shoots or
pipedto place in mills or street mains.
Chey-Own their construction and repair
shops, foundry, machine shop, FORCES
and saw mills, so that, except for orig
inal machinery and rails, they are with
in their own resources. They have cor
vail olf I,nc ti0,, M
dependent of the outside world.
THE INVESTMENTS OF BRAINS,
The figures tell only part of the in
veStment needed to make mining pay
here. The most cOnsummate business
sagacity is invested; genius in organi-
cation, energy and foresight in manage
ment. The chief owners and all the di-
rectors are CalifOrnians; l.. L. Hag-
gin, president; Senator Hearst, Thomas
Bell, William Willis and Joseph Clark,
directors. The machinery of all the
companies is organized so. that it can
be directed from San Francisco, by tele-
graph or mail. An officer of the COM
pany seldom visits Lead City; Mr..
Hearst has been here few times; Mr..
Hagginnever has. The administrative
system lis simple, sensible, direct and
responsible. There are few rules,
no red tape; government is by dis
erection, Judgment by the infallible Stan-
dard of results. In word it is an Or
ganization such as might be expected to
be devised and administered by practi-
cal miners, self-taught business men of
the California crop. Not the least i'm
pOrtant element in the success of the Or
ganizatiOn is its fighting and staying
qualities. Wherever there is prize to
fight for in any mining camp, there are
under our loose and loOsely-enforced
mining laws, plenty of contestants and
blackmailerS. The HOmeStake has had
to hold its ground by litigation, brute
force and popular suffrage. The fierce
struggle between it and the DeSmet
company at the very outset, was war
Of giants; it finally turning on a city
election in DeadwOod, which is said to
have cost the two contestant corporations
S45, 900 and to have sadly demoralized
the voters of that town. But" said
my informant, .'the HOmestake outfit got
there and that is an important point in
mining"
ECONOMY, FORESIGHT AND UNIFORMITY
of management are essential to success
in a long operation in such mines.
There is vast body of ore, but it has to
be exploited. The mines are now work
ing on the fourth level, and there is
always supply in sight for the $50
stamps for three years ahead. Dead
work to the amount of thirty or forty
Thousand dollars year has to be done
to keep this assurance good for the flu
ture. There is no probability of the
supply giving out for twenty years, if